The Dragon Queen of Berk
by Raberba girl
Summary: "Every nest has its queen." SPOILERS for HTTYD2. Later chapters from Toothless's perspective.
1. The Dragon Queen of Berk

The Dragon Queen of Berk  
(rough draft)  
A Dreamworks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: "Every nest has its queen." HTTYD2 one-shot; SPOILERS for that movie.

A/N: Takes place during HTTYD2 even though I haven't seen the movie; it's not even out yet. XD

But I was watching HTTYD2 clips on Dreamworks' YouTube channel and saw something that gave me the idea for this fic. I might revise it once I actually do see the movie.

o.o.o

Almost as soon as Toothless landed in the village square and Hiccup slid down from his back, dragons seemed to appear from all directions. A Nadderhead immediately strolled up and nuzzled Hiccup affectionately, nearly knocking him over; a Gronckle sniffed at his clothes as if hoping he'd brought a snack for it; a whole swarm of Terrible Terrors clustered at his feet in excitement, one flapping up to perch on his shoulders and another on his arm.

"Hey, hey, hey, guys, it's good to see you too," Hiccup chuckled. "You mind giving me a little breathing room? My mom's- Uh, yeah, well, this is my mom, guys." They went on grunting and cheeping and nipping curiously at his clothes or preening his hair as if he hadn't spoken. "Right, well...glad you guys are acquainted now."

"Pleased to meet you all," Valka chuckled.

A Monstrous Nightmare slithered up in an agitated way and started barking at Toothless, who vocalized sternly in response and then turned to butt his head against Hiccup's arm.

"Ow! What's up, bud?"

Toothless vocalized again and then grunted.

"What, is something wrong?"

Toothless and the Nightmare exchanged a series of growls, and Hiccup, watching them, finally picked up on the Nightmare's _Danger To Flock_ signal. Or maybe it was _Someone Is Stealing My Food_; the Nightmare was gesturing strangely and it was difficult to tell.

"Hey, man, what's up?" Hiccup asked, more concerned now. He absently shook the Terrors off onto the Gronckle's back and then mounted Toothless. "Come on, bud, let's go check it out."

An hour later, Hiccup and Toothless had rescued the sheep that had fallen into an abandoned well outside the village and gotten trapped. The duo herded the sheep back to the village and safely into an enclosure, the Monstrous Nightmare cruising along with them and now looking relaxed. Toothless helped himself to a snack as Hiccup fed the sheep and soothed them one last time. Then he turned to his partner and said, "Well, guess we'll call it a day, bud. What do you say we go up to the great hall and get ourselves some supper, huh?"

Toothless regarded him impassively, mouth smeared with a bit of stray fish guts. He burped.

"Nice," Hiccup remarked in mock disgust.

They made their way up to the great hall, where most of the villagers and many dragons seemed to be gathered, listening intently as Stoick spoke, their eyes fixed on Valka with awe and admiration.

"...so come, friends, we have much to celebrate!"

The Nightmare who had alerted Hiccup about the sheep finally parted ways, going to curl up with weary satisfaction near its partner on the other side of the hall. Hiccup tried to inconspicuously grab some food and find a place to sit, but it was impossible to sneak around in the crowded building when he had a Night Fury trailing after him, a Gronckle sleepily rousing itself to plod along after him as well, and another group of Terrible Terrors eagerly sailing over to him like a flock of adoring spiky butterflies. His cheeks flushing slightly pink, Hiccup smiled apologetically and waved a little at all the people glancing over to look at the source of the interruption.

Stoick merely smiled widely at his son and kept speaking. "...are full, my wife has returned, and life is GOOD!"

The end of his speech was met by a roar of approval, and then everyone started digging into their food in earnest. Hiccup relaxed back against Toothless's warm hide and took another bite of meat. He accidentally put more in his mouth than would comfortably fit, and a trickle of juice dribbled down his chin. He yelped in surprise when the Terror on his shoulder darted out a tongue to lick at it. "Hey!" Hiccup exclaimed, "_Table_ manners, little guy, come on!" Since his words were muffled by the mouthful of food, it was quite likely that no one, least of all the little dragon, actually understood what he was saying, though it didn't stop Toothless from emitting a gurgling chuckle.

"Haha, very funny. How about I get some little kids to lick your face when you're trying to eat and see how _you_ like it..."

A Hideous Zippleback snaked one of its heads over to Hiccup and croaked at him.

"You need something?" Hiccup asked.

The Zippleback's other head swerved over to join the first, making a pathetic wheezing sound and then twisting to give Hiccup sad, upside-down puppy eyes.

"You guys - guy? - ran out of dipping sauce, or what?"

Toothless tittered at the Zippleback. Its upside-down head righted itself and both heads chittered back at the Night Fury. Toothless flopped his head down on Hiccup's lap, making him grunt; the Zippleback lay down heavily and rested its heads on Hiccup's leg. Hiccup looked over toward where both sets of eyes were gazing, and saw a young woman laughing at the beefy young man flirting with her, as a scrawnier young man sulked nearby.

Toothless made a dismissive sound.

"Sooo," Hiccup said slowly, "one of your riders is getting friendlier than you'd like with someone who's not your other rider?"

One of the Zippleback's heads snorted angrily, as the other continued to gaze with listless unhappiness at the three humans.

"Aw, come on, guys," Hiccup said soothingly, scratching the nearest head. The other head, without looking away, shifted closer, and he was obliged to set down his mug so he could scratch both heads. Toothless made a jealous noise and shoved his own head under Hiccup's arm. "Ow, Toothless; really?"

Toothless huffed in a possessive way.

"Of _course_ I'm your human, duh. But as for you guys, or guy or whatever, hey. It'll be fine, you know? You're important enough to them that they won't break their dragon partnership, no matter how their little romance drama or whatever that is goes down. Okay?"

The Zippleback closed all four of its eyes and relaxed. Toothless grumbled and shoved closer into Hiccup. Since he was already half on top of him, this wasn't exactly comfortable for the young human.

"_Seriously_, Toothless!"

As the evening wore on, people continued to eat and talk and laugh, and tell stories and eat and play games and eat and brag and eat some more.

Valka finally managed to extract herself from the latest group of Vikings warmly welcoming her back home. She picked her way over to her son and took a seat beside him. Toothless, drowsing now in Hiccup's lap, twitched a wing and sighed in contentment.

"Hey, Mom," Hiccup said, his voice hesitant but his face shining.

"Hello, Hiccup," she said warmly. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to speak to you all evening..."

"Heh, it's fine. I mean, you're _back_, of course everyone'd want to talk to you."

She set her arm around his shoulders and drew him close, and he relaxed into her embrace.

"This is such an incredible sight to see," she said softly. "The great hall of Berk, filled peacefully with dragons..."

Hiccup chuckled. "Sometimes I can't believe it myself, even after five years. There's still some scorch marks on the foundations of the great hall, from some of the times this place burned down."

"It's all thanks to you," she remarked, "that this sort of gathering happens every day now."

"Ehh, yeah, well..." He fidgeted, still uncomfortable with such praise but not really having anything to refute it with.

Toothless shifted and then half rolled over in an attempt to get comfortable again, accidentally smacking Hiccup with a wing.

"_Ow_! Come on, man; sometimes I think you forget that you're, like, three times bigger than me."

A couple of Terrible Terrors scuttled over. One of them sniffed inquiringly at Hiccup's boot, the other one started to climb onto his knee. Toothless snapped his eyes open and vocalized warningly at the Terror, which ignored him and skittered up to Hiccup's stomach.

"Ah! Watch it, heh, that tickles, little guy..." Hiccup gently picked the Terror's feet up from his belly and set them down again higher on his abdomen, which was more comfortable. The Terror curled up and nudged him with increasing force until he started petting it.

"Oh, Hiccup," Valka said softly, her voice tinged with amused affection, "they _do_ have a queen."

"Huh?" Hiccup glanced at her in puzzlement, recalling their earlier conversation about how Berk's dragons were apparently the only known queenless flock.

She leaned to pick up the other Terror, which curled up in her hands and purred in contentment. "Think about it. Their queen died, didn't she?"

"Uh...yeah." It seemed a little strange to think of that monster, of the years of war and the fierce battle and the danger to everything Hiccup loved and the loss of his leg, in such simple terms as 'she died.'

"So of course they would have gathered around a new leader. Someone who would have quickly taken charge, preferably someone who understands them and loves them, who wants the best for them and has the strength to rally them and fight for them. After suffering for so long, they would have been naturally drawn to the strongest creature around who treated them like that."

"So they got, like, a replacement queen or something?" Hiccup frowned, running all of Berk's dragons through his mind and trying to think of one who behaved the way his mother was saying, one who seemed to be a leader. None of them stood out except Toothless, and even that was simply because Toothless was the only Night Fury, and of course Hiccup's own partner. "So is Toothless their new leader or something, and I was just too dumb to notice all this time? Or does their queen have to be female?"

There was something odd about his mother's grin, something he wasn't getting. "Well, all the dragon leaders we've _known_ about up until now have been female. Except for the alphas, of course."

"The king," Hiccup confirmed, "Mr. Ice Breath." He smiled, remembering the incredible feeling of looking into that great dragon's vast eyes, of the combined gentleness and power of its breath, of the feel of delicate ice flaking away under his palms as he'd tidied his hair again, the breathless emotion of knowing he was _liked_ by such an awesome, mighty creature.

"Yes. But it seems that only two dragon flocks are known to have male leaders, just as only two flocks are known to have at least one human member."

"What, so...your dragon sanctuary and...Berk?" Hiccup said hesitantly.

"Yes."

"So...I don't get it. So Berk's flock _does_ have a, a male queen, or something? You're saying it's Toothless?"

"No, Hiccup." Why was she still _grinning_ like that? "Your dragons certainly respect Toothless and acknowledge his strength, but they don't follow and adore him the way they do their true leader."

"But who _is_ their true leader? I mean, unless they have some super secret paying-their-respects-to-the-big-shot behavior that I haven't picked up on, I can't think of any dragon who acts anything like a queen or an alpha or whatever."

"That's because he's not a dragon."

"Huh?"

"Hiccup. The one they love and follow. The human they always come to for help, the human they trust the most, the human who speaks to their souls and sees what none of the other humans could."

He was staring at her in disbelief, his mouth hanging open a little.

"Their queen. You, Hiccup."

"_Me_?!"

She smiled.

"What the- You're saying I'm some kind of-?! Great Odin's- Mom, _I'm_ not a dragon queen! That's crazy."

Toothless snorted.

"I mean," Hiccup continued, "if anything, _you'd_ be a dragon queen, it's unbelievable how much you know that I had no clue about, I-"

A Gronckle came up and plopped itself down in front of Hiccup, gazing at him adoringly.

"Mom, I'm not a..."

"My flock already had a leader long before I came to it, Hiccup. Yours, however, was orphaned after the death of their tyrant master. The one who filled that empty place for them was _you_."

A Monstrous Nightmare was crawling purposefully toward them. Hiccup was startled when a Zippleback's heads suddenly swung out over him and hissed at the Nightmare; the Nightmare stopped and snarled back. Toothless raised his head and barked at both dragons in irritation; the Zippleback retreated sulkily, and the Nightmare lay down by Hiccup's feet and gave him a soulful look. The Gronckle wriggled like an excited dog and scooted closer.

"...Okay," Hiccup finally said. "But...but then you'd call me a dragon _king_, right? Because I'm a guy."

"_Queen_, son," Valka said, affectionate and just a touch mischievous. "Remember, dragon society works differently than ours. It's the roles that are important, and the ones who fill them are the ones who can most successfully perform the job. True, the workings of nature cause most dragon queens to be female dragons, but your flock's unusual circumstances caused them to end up with a male human queen."

"Well...then, yay, I'm a dragon queen~" Hiccup sighed. "So, what, do I _have_ a king, then?"

"Usually, a dragon queen's consort would be her mate, her partner and second-in-command, and her co-parent as the occasion arises."

"So...Astrid...?" Hiccup suggested, very warily.

Valka chuckled. "Astrid makes a very fine Viking warrior, and she is kind to Stormfly. Those two do love and trust each other, as human/dragon partners should. From what I've heard, you and Astrid also seem like you would be very happy together if you do one day choose to marry."

Hiccup smiled a little.

"But as far as her being your 'king' - no, Hiccup. Within the social structure of your flock, your 'consort' is the partner you are most closely bound to. The bond is so deep that you seem to know each other's thoughts; you do not hesitate to trust each other with your lives. You two protect your flock in unison, you maintain order and guard and support and love your flock as two halves of a whole."

"Toothless," Hiccup said softly, his hand stroking over glimmering black scales. Toothless exhaled in a _'Press Harder'_ huff, and Hiccup smiled a little as he obliged. "So I'm their queen, and he's the king..." He shook his head. "'Co-parent,' huh? I hope they're not expecting little baby 'dragmans' or something, because thaaaaaat's definitely not happening."

Valka laughed. "Of course he's not your procreational mate, but he _is_ your partner, your right-hand man. They come to him when they can't reach you; he translates when either or both of you do not understand each other."

"Translates," Hiccup murmured thoughtfully, now recalling several past incidents in a new light.

"Your father was right, Hiccup. You _were_ born to lead and to protect your people, and you certainly have the strength of character to do so well." Her smile turned slightly sad. "I think he simply doesn't understand yet that your strength and leadership may have taken a different form than what he always hoped and imagined for you."

Hiccup smiled weakly. "_Hey, Dad, so here's why I can't be chief after all: it turns out I'm already a dragon queen_...yeah, he's really gonna LOVE that."

"He'll come around," Valka said kindly. "He always does."

"You sound so confident..." Hiccup sighed and hugged Toothless, who flicked one of his head spines inquiringly. "I dunno, just...he never- Mom, he never listens to me. It always takes _so much time_ and some sort of crisis before he finally does, and..."

"He loves you, Hiccup," she said softly.

"I know." Hiccup gripped Toothless's head and playfully snapped his tiny omnivore teeth close to Toothless's tough scaled hide; the dragon responded with a lick to the face that made Hiccup exclaim in a mixture of disgust and amusement. "Uuuuggghhh, Toothless...!" Toothless gave him a smug look and Hiccup hugged him again, then straightened up with his expression more thoughtful. "I'm technically an adult now...but he still treats me like a kid most of the time. I guess I _am_ still a weakling, especially compared to Astrid or Snotlout, but I don't _feel_ like one anymore, and I just wish..."

He was stroking Toothless again, fingernails digging into the sweet spots around the dragon's head so that Toothless gave a happy sigh. "...It's like I turn into a weakling kid again whenever I talk to him," Hiccup said slowly. "Every time we disagree, every time he blocks me out... Sometimes I hear myself, and it doesn't matter that I'm the first Viking - except you - to ever ride a dragon or that I helped end a war or that I figured out how to train dragons or that my best friend is a Night Fury; I _still_ sound like a whiny little kid. Like I'm so used to it that it doesn't even occur to me to...to talk to him like...like a man."

Valka was silent, watching him. Hiccup blinked and then raised his head. "_Dad_," he said quietly, "_I know who I am now. I'm sorry that I couldn't fulfill your expectations of me, but I'm proud of who I am and what I can do. If you need an heir, Astrid's your woman. She'll be a better chief than I ever could be, and then I can be the leader _I_ was meant to be. You don't have to make a decision now, you don't have to agree with me; but I've made _my_ own decision, and there are people who are depending on me to do what I need to do._"

There was a pause. Toothless raised his head and looked at his partner, his nose twitching. Hiccup smiled at him.

"That sounds good, Hiccup," Valka said. "Stoick is right over there, talking to Gobber. There's no reason to wait to tell him what you just said."

Hiccup started to sigh, but then steeled his expression and stood up, his shoulders straight and his head held high. "You're right." As soon as he took a step, Toothless rose to his own feet and pressed close. Hiccup smiled and laid a hand on the dragon's head. "Come on, partner." Together, they began to cross the hall in order to speak to the chief.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I used the word "awesome" with its older meaning, "someone/something that inspires awe."

So - _How to Train Your Dragon_ is my favorite movie of all time. X3 Although the sequel doesn't look like it'll be as good as the first one, I'm still REALLY looking forward to seeing it, and I've been watching the trailers and clips that Dreamworks has been uploading to YouTube. One of them, the extended "Dragon Sanctuary" clip, has a line in it where Valka says, "Every nest has its queen." That made me think of the dragon nest closest to Berk with the evil queen that they defeated in the first movie, and, like: "If that queen's gone now, who's the new one?" Of course it'd be fantastic if it turned out to be Hiccup and he had no idea. XD XD XD (It would also be an explanation for why, even after the war, he still seems to have the closest bond with dragons than anyone in Berk.) I love playing with gender roles. I have a feeling that the filmmakers are not going to take the concept (if they even use it at all) as far as they could, because of younger kids watching the movie, but I wanted to experiment with it because yay fanfiction. XD

I haven't been able to see more than a few episodes of the HTTYD TV series, either; so sorry if there's anything I got wrong due to not having seen the show. And if I spelled any of the dragons' names wrong, let me know; I didn't double-check them yet. ^^;

This ended up being my very first HTTYD fanfic. XD I've been wanting to write one for a long time, but I never had a solid idea before now.

Lol, Hiccup & Toothless are the only characters with totally different names whom I keep getting mixed up when I type too fast. ^^; Way too often I find myself typing "Toothless" when I meant to type "Hiccup," and vice-versa.


	2. Names

Names

(rough draft)

A Dreamworks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Hiccup would probably be surprised at all the names Toothless has had for him.

A/N: **This drabble has no direct relation to **_**The Dragon Queen of Berk**_, I just figured I'd group some HTTYD fics together so I wouldn't have to keep referring to TDQoB whenever I use that "queen" bit of my headcanon. ^^;

This is from Toothless's POV.

o.o.o

He has a lot of names.

The first one was Confusion Fear Anger Terror Grief Shock Glee Excitement Frustration Pain - the things I felt when I first saw Him. It is a very, very strange name now, because I don't feel those things anymore when I think about Him or see Him. He never frightens me at all, ever; now He is Joy Eagerness Peace Love. And Frustration when He doesn't listen to me, but most of the time He's Love. Sometimes I wonder if He now and Him back then are different people, even though they smell the same.

The next time I saw Him, He was so small and quiet, I called Him Little Quiet One. When He didn't threaten or challenge me, I ignored Him, but He stared and stared and stared at me the way _no animal_ ever would, I didn't like it and He became Lurking In The Cliff instead.

The next time He came, when I was so so so hungry... Fish Bringer; Life Giver. Also Stupid, for not knowing what to do with the fish after I gave Him back His share; and Dangerous Thing. Then when He didn't hurt me but wouldn't go away, Annoying Thing and then Confusing Thing and Interesting Thing.

He kept coming back and coming back, and I got used to Him. I called Him Charcoal Paws for a while because of His scent when He touches me, but then finally He became Friend. That was a special name, because I never had a friend before Him. Other dragons did sometimes, but not me. He was the first one I ever liked enough to be Friend. He was interesting and annoying and almost everything we did together was fun fun fun and new. Not everything, but most of it. And I could tell He loved me, not just liked me or respected me or wanted me, but He loved _me_. I never felt that before so I didn't know what it was at first, but now I do. He's very special.

The first time we flew - high, like I used to on my own, except we have to fly together now - He was bad at it at first but then _something happened_, and after that He was Half Of Me.

Nonsense Kind One, when He was nice to the annoying little ones for no reason. And the first time He was attacked and I ran to protect Him, I realized He was Precious Thing. I never had a Precious Thing before, but now I do, even thinking about anyone hurting my Precious Thing makes me angry and want to rip their throat out. Sometimes it hurts to have a Precious Thing and I don't like that, but I'd rather have one that hurts than not have Him.

Then after we were free, when we were happy and weak for a while and we had a new nest but no queen, no master no leader no one except the monster humans who weren't monsters anymore, soon we started feeling better. Getting stronger, having a home, following and listening to our new queen.

He is a much much much much better queen. The old one was a monster like the humans, but we never knew things could be different. With Him, things are very very very different, but they're _good_. He's stupid a lot and doesn't know anything, sometimes I think He doesn't even know He's queen (He's _that_ stupid sometimes), but it's okay because I'm the consort and I fix things when He breaks them or forgets them. I'm good at it.

He's strong enough and loves us enough to make up for being stupid. The annoying little ones adore Him so much I get jealous, the strongest ones don't listen to anyone else but they listen to Him, all of us protect Him and will do anything for Him, but He is kind and He never makes us hurt like _She_ did. We didn't know it is good to be kind until He showed us. It's confusing because He is male and He is _human_ but He is still our queen, they wouldn't all follow Him like this if He wasn't. And He's not my mate which is very very confusing because I _know_ I'm consort and I love Him as my other half and He loves me, but He's also courting with the human female so it doesn't make sense that I'm still the queen's consort, but I don't care. None of the others care, either. Even though He is a very very strange queen, nothing bad happens and things are good, so we are all happy.

He has one more name.

It took me a long time to understand that the chittering they do all the time is _talking_. Humans are very stupid and can't smell at all, sometimes I wonder if they are blind, too, because there are so many things they DON'T SEE, even He doesn't see, sometimes even when I try to tell Him. I couldn't understand how they could be alive at all when they were so stupid.

But I think they talk different than we do. All the chittering all the time, yap yap yap yap yap, they're not just strange sounds with no meaning, I think it's how they talk to each other. It means that He is talking to me all the time. It's annoying because I don't understand what most of the chittering means, but at the same time I like it because He _is_ talking to me all the time even though He keeps saying things I don't know. And even when I don't know what the chittering means, the way He sounds when he makes those noises is like talking, too. Even without smelling, I still know when He's scared and when He's angry and when He's excited and when He's sad and when He's happy.

I've been learning. When I realized that the chittering is speech, I started connecting it to their smells and movements. There is a sound that means 'food,' sounds that mean 'go flying' - even sounds for me. _Me_.

I have two human names. One is 'Toothless' that all the humans use for me, and the other one is 'Bud' that is special because only He uses that name for me. The day I realized those were names for me, I was so happy I accidentally hurt Him. (He's okay now.) He doesn't call me anything in real talk, but in His own talk, He has names for me, and He usually smells happy when He says them, so I know they're both good names.

He has a human name, too. The sound the humans make when they call Him is 'Hiccup.' I am so proud of myself for learning that.

"Well...guess we'd better head back home now, huh, bud..."

More chittering I don't know, but I can tell He wants to stay here but will go back to the nest because He has to. I can chitter, too. "Hiccup," I say. I don't know the human sounds for _I love you_, so I say it the way dragons say it to their friends and their other halves. _"Hiccup, I love You."_

"D...Did you just- Did you just say 'Hiccup'?!"

Why is He saying 'Hiccup'? That's our name for _H__im_. Silly humans can't even understand something as easy as that.

"Toothless, did-?! You can _talk_!"

_"I thought we are going to go back home, but You keep staying. You are confusing."_

"Hey, can you say something else? Can you say 'Astrid'?"

_"If You're not going to leave after all, I'm going back to sunbathing."_ I put my head back down on the grass and spread my wings so I can feel the warm sun shining on my back again. He's kneeling in front of me now, smelling excited. He often gets very excited about things even when they're boring.

"Come on, bud! Aaaaaastrid. Aaaaaastrid."

_"Shut up and sunbathe."_ I knock my wing against His head so He falls back down next to me.

"Ow! _Fine_, then, you big baby boo."

He pushes me. Of course I barely feel it. Those noises are easy to say, so I will say them even though I don't know what they mean, because Hiccup will like it and it's funny when I make Him happy for silly things. "Baby boo."

"Aaahhh, you did it again...!"

o.o.o

Author's Notes: It looks like I've gotten eaten by a HTTYD obsession again, and I'm pretty sure I'll be obsessed 'til I'm able to watch the sequel... I've been getting more ideas for HTTYD fanfics. ^^;

This fic was supposed to be a much longer one, a sort of introspective one-shot on Hiccup from Toothless's POV, but the introductory rambling about names took so long that I decided to just make it its own drabble. Hopefully I'll eventually be able to write the rest, probably as at least two or three more drabbles/one-shots.


	3. Strength

Strength

(rough draft)

A Dreamworks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Toothless, the most impressive dragon on Berk, realizes to his dismay that his human partner happens to be the weakest and scrawniest of the Berk Vikings.

A/N: This is the second of my "Toothless's POV on Hiccup" drabbles. (Though it ended up being longer than a 'drabble.' XD) I might re-arrange them into a connected series or something, I dunno; my writing is such a mess...

**This is set during the "Thawfest" episode of the **_**Riders of Berk**_** TV show.**

o.o.o

He's a weakling!

I don't understand. Was He wounded? No, because I would have known. He can't have always been this way! He's always been the strongest human, just like I'm the strongest dragon.

Except if I remember very, very hard, I can remember a long time ago that maybe He was weak. I woke up with His fear so strong in my nostrils that it was hard to smell anything else. I thought all humans were like boulders with legs, but He is tiny like fishbones with no meat. Only the human hatchlings are smaller than Him. I knew knew knew He was going to kill me and I didn't understand because He was so _small_, but I couldn't move and I couldn't stop Him and then He didn't kill me and then I was free and He felt like a meatless little squirrel under my claws.

But I forgot about that. Because first He brought back life to me when I was starving, and He kept putting strange things on me that helped me FLY again, and then He became my other half so of course He is strong because I am strong.

...I did have to save Him from the fire-skinned one who's now in my troop, the one the humans call 'Hookfang.' Hiccup called for me and I ran so panicked to help Him and it turned out to only be a fire-skin and I was confused, but it didn't matter because there was danger danger danger all around so I just fought without thinking about it. But if He was strong, He could have beat Hookfang, so I don't understand. He couldn't beat Hookfang who was easy, but He killed _Her_ who I never even thought could be hurt! It doesn't make any sense at all.

...We fought Her together, me and Him, but He was alone with Hookfang. Maybe He is only strong when He is with me?

He doesn't have me now. Our troop is in the chain cave like usual (except they took the chains away today), but this time all the other humans are up there watching us and being very loud. From the way they all smell and sound, I think our troop is doing a competition, but it's confusing because the humans in our troop don't smell like they're competing for females or food, and they don't act like they're competing for territory. And our two human females are competing, too. What else is there to compete for?

_"Humans are so strange,"_ says Stormfly.

_"Bossy Fun Thing is going to win,"_ Hookfang brags, even though he doesn't know what they're trying to win any more than I do.

_"HALF OF ME is going to win,"_ I snarl at him, _"He's better than all of them combined."_

_"I hope My Cute One doesn't get hurt,"_ says Meatlug.

_"Just because you're consort doesn't mean you'll win!"_ Hookfang shrieks at me. _"MY human will win, I don't care if yours is queen; you both can EAT OUR BACKDRAFT!"_ Meatlug gasps at how shockingly rude (and dangerous?) this is, but I understand. Hookfang hated the old queen even more than most, so he likes being able to insult our new queen without being punished, even though of course he loves Him just as much as the rest of our flock does. If the new queen wasn't my other half who I love too much for it to be fun, I would enjoy the freedom of insulting Him, too, no matter how much I like Him.

_"My human is worth a hundred of yours even if He WASN'T queen!"_ I growl.

Me and Hookfang argue a little more but not too much, because we both want to keep watching.

As the competition goes on, we start to understand it a little better. It's like a series of tasks; very useless ones because we can't see the point of any of them, but it seems like whoever wins is the one who can do the tasks in a certain way the best.

Stormfly gets mad at Fishlegs for making Astrid lose so much, but she can't do anything about it since we're not competing. The two litter-mates mess each other up as usual, so Barfbelch soon gets bored and goes to take a nap. Only one of our humans seems to be doing well at all - and _it's not Hiccup_. Why is it not Him?!

I'm surprised and I'm not happy and I'm angry when over and over and over again, Snotlout wins and Hiccup loses. I don't understand I don't understand I don't understand! He's the _best_, why is He losing?!

_"Ohhhh!"_ Meatlug finally realizes. _"The queen is the smallest one, isn't He?!"_

We all stare at our humans. And we see that she's right.

We all knew before that Hiccup is the smallest and has the least meat, it's the sight-picture that helps us tell Him apart from the other humans. But it never occurred to any of us until just now that _our queen is small_. We can't even make it make sense, we stand for a while remembering how huge She was and looking at how tiny He is. Putting them side by side in our minds, we can barely even see Him.

I _don't understand_. He seemed so much bigger until now: exactly my size when it's just me and Him; looming over me, kind and comforting, when I need Him to be my queen. Whyyyyyy is He so small and weak?!

_"...Bossy Thing is definitely going to win,"_ Hookfang says, but he sounds subdued and a little frightened. If a queen is weak, her flock dies. Are we going to die?

I'm worried now as I watch Hiccup, and I expect them to start another stupid task, but the humans smell different now. The humans up above aren't as loud anymore, and our troop humans are coming over to us dragons and starting to wander away. Snotlout smells like _"exhilaration triumph glee pride eager,"_ as if he plans to keep winning, but I don't see anything else to win. Hiccup smells like _"frustration anger hurt determination,"_ like He's going to try to keep winning but there's _nothing else to win_. I wish that humans could talk for real so that I can understand them better.

Hiccup and Snotlout talk a little with their human noises, still smelling like competitors (but _what are they fighting over?_), then Snotlout and Hookfang fly away. Astrid talks to Hiccup and I can tell He feels just a tiny bit better. Then we all leave, too. Are we competing some more, or not?

I'm thinking about it the whole time we eat, and when we go to the fire and metal cave where Hiccup works on more of His strange important things. I watch Him, and I see again how small He is, and this time I connect that to other things, too.

Compared to the other humans, He's like one of the annoying little dragons are compared to the rest of us. I can sense the strain of His muscles, how difficult it is for Him to do things that any of the humans could do easily. I remember that whenever our little aerie eats together in our home cave, me and Dad eat a normal amount of food, but I see in my memories that Hiccup barely eats anything at all. No wonder He's so meatless, when He barely eats any meat. But even whenever I try to give Him more from my own share, He never eats my offerings, and He runs around like normal after meals as if those few tiny mouthfuls are all He needs, but how can that be?

There's the way the other humans treat Him, too. No one seems to really mean Him harm when they strike Him, and He almost never gets upset in response. Astrid even likes to follow up those strikes sometimes with a small headbutt that I think is a human courtship thing. I decided it was all normal human behavior and got used to it.

But now I'm thinking about it and thinking about it, and I wonder if it _still_ hurts Him even though it's normal.

There's His sire, who has several names but I think of him as 'Dad' because that's what Hiccup calls him. I _think_ he might even be the humans' queen, I'm not sure...I didn't know there could be two queens in one nest, but there are a lot of things I didn't know before meeting Hiccup. Our nest is the only one with both dragons and humans in it, so I guess it makes sense to have two queens even though it's strange. And if he is the human queen, it would explain why he's the only one who can make Hiccup do things He doesn't want to do, like stay grounded or send us dragons away from the nest. What kind of queen lets another queen rule Him?

Dad is one of the very biggest humans, and Hiccup is one of the smallest. Dad will touch Hiccup or push Him or squeeze Him in his forelegs just like all the other humans do, and Hiccup doesn't respond as if that behavior is aggressive, but He does grunt and stumble and lose His breath.

Now I wonder if that's where a lot of His bruises come from, too. If most of the humans are so big and strong, and the pushing and shoving is normal but Hiccup is so small and weak, then maybe they really are hurting Him by accident. I didn't know that. I didn't _know_. Is it a bad thing that You get hurt so much, Hiccup? If it is, why do You act like it's not?

"...I mean, of _course_ we're gonna kick everyone's butt tomorrow, there's no way we can lose; but even if we ace every single event, it'll still be a tie, so we're gonna have to have a tie-breaker, aren't we...?"

I can still smell His determination to win, even though we're not competing now. Maybe they're going to compete again soon, and _that's_ why everyone's acting like it's not over?

He's always rambling and worried about the wrong things. Sheep and dead trees don't matter when I go to sniff at Him and find all the places where His flesh is a little damaged. It's mostly on His forelegs and chest and shoulders and back, where humans most like to pat their paws on each other or squeeze each other with their forelegs. Now that I'm paying attention, I can almost _feel_ every small twinge of pain when He moves, but He acts like He doesn't even notice.

I'm about to headbutt Him to comfort Him, but I remember I have to be gentle so I breathe into His head-fur instead so that it ruffles. He bares His teeth in the happy human way and pats me. "Don't worry, Toothless. You're the best dragon on Berk, and everyone knows it."

_"I'm not going to let anything happen to You, Precious Thing."_

The next day, we all gather together again for more competition, and me and my troop dragons are excited when we realize we'll get to fight alongside our humans this time.

_"HAH! This time I get to beat you _myself_, Consort!"_ Hookfang crows at me.

_"That's what I'm supposed to be saying to _you_,"_ I tell him.

_"My human is obviously the best,"_ Stormfly snaps. _"We're unstoppable when we're together."_ She eyes me. _"No offense, Consort, but it's true."_

_"I don't take offense, because me and Half Of Me are even _more_ unstoppable,"_ I say haughtily. It doesn't matter whether Hiccup is queen or not, it _doesn't_ matter whether He's the weakest one or not; I'M strong, and He's strong when He's with me, so of course we're going to win!

...It would be nice if I knew what we are supposed to do or what we're trying to win, but I trust Hiccup. He'll find a way to show me.

More stupid tasks (why are we supposed to fly _under_ such low things when there's nothing attacking us?), but Hiccup knows exactly what He's doing and I relax into His guidance. I also pay attention to the watching noisy excited humans, the way they react to our rivals. If one of the other dragons does something wrong, the humans show it; and when they do something well, the humans show that, too. It gives me a better idea what to expect.

I know I do well because my queen praises me, and that makes me feel like I'm filled with sunbeams. Me and Hiccup _are_ unstoppable when we're together, we're the best, and surely His mastery is clear to all the humans and not just the dragons.

Just like last time, everyone gets quieter after a while and they start wandering away, but still with that same excited hum. We're going to do this again, I _know_ we are, and Hiccup is going to dominate them again. At least, He will as long as He's with me. _"Let me stay with you, Queen. Don't try to do this without me again, because I am Your other half and You need me."_ If I'm not with Him, He will lose, and I can't stand seeing Him lose when He's supposed to be the best.

This time, Snotlout is the one who's upset and Hiccup is the triumphant one.

...But there is something else in Hiccup, too, something else that I don't think I like, something that reminds me just a very very tiny very small bit of the old queen. I can tell that Astrid senses the same thing and she doesn't like it at _all_.

Hiccup, You're not going to rot like the old queen, are you? Because if You do, our flock will kill You, they will never let themselves be hurt like that again; and I will be killed trying to defend You because You are my Precious Thing even if You do rot, and then the rest of them will die if they can't find another strong queen soon. Please don't rot.

It fades when we leave the chain cave, and I almost can't sense it anymore. We go to our home cave for food, and I try to give some of mine to Him again but _He won't eat it_. All He eats is His own one fish and a few plants. When Dad comes in smelling very happy and strikes a foreleg against Hiccup's shoulders to share his happiness, Hiccup jerks forward and I sense tiny breakings under His flesh and I know He has new bruises now. But He still smells happy and He puts the fish I tried to give Him back with the rest of my pile. Why won't You let me _help_ You, Hiccup?!

"Don't worry, Dad, I've got some ideas I'm gonna work on tonight. Tomorrow'll be the first time you'll get to put the Thawfest medal around a Haddock's neck instead of a Jorgenson's."

"I'm surely looking forward to it, son!"

Much later, after Hiccup finally goes to sleep, I go over to His bed, quietly so I won't wake Him up, and I watch Him for a while. He smells and looks a little happy as He sleeps, and I lean down to ruffle His head-fur again. I've never loved anyone or anything as much as I love Him, which is why times like this frighten me.

He's so helpless. When I'm not with Him, He can get hurt or killed so very easily. His teeth and claws are useless, He has no wings or tail or weight, He can barely even lift or throw human weapons, He can't smell or taste danger. If I can't protect Him, what defense does He have if an angry foreign dragon wants to claw Him open or bite Him to pieces, or if a rotten human wants to cut Him apart?

_How can a creature so weak be our leader?_

_"Friend,"_ I say, even though I know He can't understand me, _"where is it? There is strength in You _somewhere_ or You could never have become queen, but I can't see it or understand it. Reassure me. Show me why You are powerful."_ Of course He is still sleeping. I go back to my bed and lie down, and concentrate on breathing His scent to comfort me until I finally fall asleep.

The next day, everyone is even more excited than before, and I think maybe this is the last of the competition. Whoever wins this will _really_ win it.

The rest of our troop is not with us this time - did they lose for good? It's only Hiccup and Snotlout down in the chain cave. They put me and Hookfang up here at the top of this cliff and told us to stay. What does it mean that we are up here and no one cares what our other troop dragons do? Do me and Hookfang get to help our humans this time, or not? Why did they make us be so far away?

Down in the chain cave, Hiccup and Snotlout start running. Hiccup is so _slow_, I knew it, I knew He couldn't do this without me, if they were being chased by hungry animals they'd kill Hiccup and Snotlout would escape. I don't want You to be weak, Hiccup!

They are coming to us. Ohhhh, they have to do some of it on their own, but they get to do the rest of it with us. I'm _glad_.

Snotlout reaches Hookfang first and they fly away, but I'm still watching Hiccup and waiting waiting waiting for Him to get here because _I can win this for us,_ I know I can!

I hear how fast Hiccup's heart is beating when He finally reaches me, and I smell the sweat on Him. Already He's tired from just that easy climb, but He runs to me and jumps on my back and hurry up hurry up let's GO!

Of course I catch up to Hookfang, easy. I'm the best dragon with the best human. We're winning, winning winning, so close and I can sense Hiccup's glee and I don't know how much longer we have to fly but it doesn't matter because we're going to win no matter how far it is but then Hiccup makes me slow down.

HICCUP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

He forces me to the ground and I watch feeling outraged as Hookfang flies past and insults us on the way.

_"We could have BEAT HIM, Stupid!"_ I growl at Him._ "What are you _doing_!"_

"I'm sorry, bud."

I calm down and smell as hard as I can, and Hiccup smells like sadness and regret but something else, too. Something good. He's doing this on purpose, and He has a good reason for it, and He smells NOTHING like the old queen anymore at all.

It's not the most important thing to win? _"I trust You, Half Of Me, and I love You."_ Whatever He wants. He is my queen.

And who cares about doing stupid pointless things to win something that doesn't exist, anyway.

Hiccup lets me fly again and we go back to the chain cave and land beside Hookfang, who smells like glee and excitement and some guilt underneath for beating the queen.

_"I WIN I WIN I WIN! I _told_ you me and my human are the best!"_

_"The queen and me could have won very very very easily,"_ I tell him, _"but He let you win because He is kind and wanted you and your Bossy Thing to be happy."_

_"Not true! We won 'cause we're BETTER than you! Hah!"_

I feel like arguing, but Hiccup is not arguing. Hiccup lost on purpose even though He could have won so easy; He is letting Snotlout claim victory even though it hurts Him a little. I'm going to do the same, because we should support each other. I even feel a little proud for making that sacrifice. This is how sacrifice _should_ feel, not like it used to with the old queen. Hiccup really is the best leader.

"You did your family proud."

"Snotlout! Snotlout! Oy, oy, oy!" Snotlout dances away, and Hookfang keeps gloating.

Hiccup and Dad don't even say anything to each other in human talk at all, but I sense that Dad is proud of his offspring, too, and Hiccup knows it and it makes Him feel better.

Then Astrid comes and she smells happy but she hits Him, _why_ would she do that when she _knows_ He's a weakling, I can already sense the newest bruise forming! But whatever she says to Hiccup makes Him really happy and not sad anymore at all, so I guess I can't be annoyed at her. Then she does the little courtship headbutt and I'm pretty sure Hiccup doesn't even feel the bruise anymore. Were they competing for females after all? Humans make no sense...

_"You had the power to make Your rivals either really happy or really miserable,"_ I realize. _"You chose to make them happy even though it hurt You, and now You don't hurt at all, either."_ I am impressed.

"So, bud, what do you say we go for a _real_ flight, huh?"

My human Hiccup is small and slow and He barely eats and He has almost no muscles. He's easy to hurt and He almost never fights. Anyone could kill Him so easy if they really wanted to.

But He knows things that are more than just seeing or hitting. He loves when there is no reason to love. He changes things that we never thought could be changed, and He makes them better than even the best good we could think of on our own.

That's why He's strong enough to be queen, a so much better queen than our old one who was huge but rotten. My Hiccup's strength isn't in His body and it isn't anything I can touch, but it's still _there_ and I can trust it. He trusts me, too. He knows things that I don't understand, and I know things that He doesn't understand; even though He's strong and I'm strong, it's not enough when we're alone. Without me, He would fall, and without Him, everything else would fall. Me and my human are two halves and we can do _anything_ when we're together, because we can rely on each other's strength.

_"YES LET'S GO FLYING!"_

"Ha ha! All right, Toothless, here we go!"

o.o.o

Author's Notes: Ftr, Toothless always "capitalizes Hiccup's pronoun" regardless because their bond is so deep, but the rest of the pronoun capitalization in this fic is solely based on queenship.

The original idea came when I was considering the fact that Toothless is the most impressive dragon on Berk (as far as abilities/intelligence/etc.), yet Hiccup is the most physically _un_impressive Viking. XD I wondered what Toothless would make of this contrast. When I started outlining this fic, the plunny melded with the plot of "Thawfest," which I'd recently watched. I figured that the Thawfest competition was a perfect opportunity to make a really clear comparison between Hiccup's physical abilities and those of the other Berk teenagers.


End file.
